Domus Amoris
by Pokeshadow55
Summary: Love, noun. 1: A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2: A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. "There are so many mediocre things in this world, and Love shouldn't be one of them." (Or: A world where he cared and was cared for. A series of oneshots, rated T to be safe)
1. The Hospital

**A/N: Let me tell you a short (but not very short at all) little story. There once was a fanfiction writer known as Pokeshadow55, who sometimes also called themselves Blacknovelist. This author was in a livestream one night, talking about the happiness that was various characters in their college years before tragedy and real life struck, when an idea came to mind.**

 _ **I'm pretty sure you guys mostly know where this is going by this point.**_

 **I started planning and writing this not too long ago, and I wanted to hold off posting it until I had more details worked out. Then a certain fan event known among fans as Phanniemay came along, and I knew this was perfect. What better way to kick-start an AU Story than during the AU segment of Phanniemay?**

 **Mind you, I'm still working out a lot of kinks in the story.**

 **The title, which is Latin, roughly translates to "House of Love" or "Family of Love". I thought it was fitting, personally.**

 **Also, to apply for this and future chapters:** _Italics_ **will always denote thoughts, unless a chapter involves flashbacks; In that case, thoughts will be shown as** _Italics that are underlined,_ **while flashbacks/memories/past events will be** _only italics._ **I'm sorry if that seems confusing, but it generally works the best. Either might be bolded for extra emphasis on occasion, and if the whole thing isn't italics, its just for emphasis.**

 **And so, without further ado!**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or anything in relation to Danny Phantom.**

* * *

Prologue

* * *

 _"I'm telling you Jack, it won't work."_

 _"Bogus, V-man, it totally will! The proto portal is guaranteed to punch a hole right into the ghost dimension."_

 _"Jack, these calculations aren't right!"_

 _"BANZAI!"_

* * *

 _Beep...Beep...Beep..._ _  
_

 _Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep..._

"AAARGH!" _  
_

Vlad jolted awake, startled by the obnoxious sound blaring in the small white room. He shot up, body tense and eyes wide, before he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, his face still stinging from the remainder of the energy that had caught him head-on who knew how long ago. His eyes were still flashing, though he stopped shaking at least, his breaths coming more naturally than before though his heart still shuddered inside him.

Sighing, Vlad leaned back on his hands, closing his eyes as the last of his shock faded. The blaring sound had stopped as soon as he awoke, leaving him to listen to the faint noise of people walking outside the room he sat in. The surprise gave way to a strange exhaustion and he sighed as he finally opened his eyes to look around. He blinked, feeling lost as he took in the complex machines that lined the pale walls, the hazmat suits he could see through a large window right in front of him. This place looked more like a lab than a hospital.

 _Wait, hospital? Why would I be in a damnable hospital?_

Then Vlad took a good look at his own reflection, faint and barely visible in the glass before him. Another slow blink, a pause as his mind caught up, then his eyes widened as panic and memories flooded through him.

 _No..._

 _They were working on the portal, him and his best friend and his crush. He never found as much interest in the supernatural, though he knew just how much the other two adored it. He couldn't help but feel jealous whenever the two of them shared a smile or a look or a moment with each other. Still, he would continue to hope that he had a chance. But for all of his lack of interest, there was still something thrilling about all this work they were doing._

He launched himself off the bed, stumbling as he tumbled off the side and rushed forwards, to the somewhat foggy glass. He didn't notice how the bed never moved from his violent reactions, nor did he hear the absence of footsteps.

 _No. It's not true._

 _The proto portal was finally complete, their own extracurricular activities finally reaching its grand height. They just needed to run the final checks, and Vlad planned on finally telling Maddie how he really felt about her. It would be the perfect end to a perfect day, and already he could picture it._

His chest felt like it was going to burst, his heart like it would give out, his lungs like they would never have enough air ever again. He reached for his reflection in the window, recoiling when he saw his hands. Pale, tinged a faint blue. Pure denial. He turned his head left, seeing the mirror hanging innocently above the sink, chaos rushing through his veins, his mind, his body.

 _NONONONONONONOTHISCOULDN'TBEHAPPENING_

 _Even if Maddie rejected him, at the very least he'd finally have that closure. Sure, he'd sulk and gripe, perhaps spend a few days or weeks holed up at his apartment, but it was a fact that Maddie and Jack were all he had left. He knew it, they knew it, and he wanted to believe that, at the very least, they wouldn't lock him out of their lives completely._

Vlad lunged across the door, reaching for the only thing that could prove to him that he was hallucinating. He refused to think of the other possibility, to even turn a piece of his mind into the other thought, the chance that what he saw in the glass wasn't just his imagination, that this wasn't all just some big joke.

 _PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEGODLORDPOWERSABOVEPLEASENODON'TTELLMEGODNOITCAN'TBE_

 _So long as he could be with them, he could accept that. That was what he always told himself, whenever the cold bitter feelings threatened to swallow him up. Surely there was something better for him anyway. Right?_

It wasn't true, it couldn't be, it really was his heart beating, he needed to breathe, this was all wrong, he wasn't actually-

 ** _NO._**

 _He felt the tingle of electricity from the portal just before it activated. Green overtook his vision, and three simultaneous screams echoed through his ears as a searing pain took over him, the ectoplasm invading his body. He knew nothing but the chilling cold green, freezing and burning him all at once._

Dead.

* * *

The funeral service was small, short, and in their opinions, was a disgrace to the memory of their best friend. Of course, they weren't that oblivious; there weren't many people at the university that liked any of them, but that didn't mean they had to be so seemingly flippant about this. At least, that was how it felt to Maddie and Jack. But then, Vlad had been their best friend.

A couple of his teachers had gone up to talk about Vlad, all of them mentioning generic things; a good guy, hard worker, how he would be missed. Maddie and Jack both went up themselves, and their own words came out short but emotional. They both knew no one would listen, but that didn't matter; the words were for them, and them alone.

The procession to the graveyard and watching them bury his body felt like forever, and yet once it was over neither of them could remember much about the time between. They weren't entirely sure of how long they'd stood together near his grave either, but the haze of detachment that had fallen over them was only broken when Jack reached out and carefully held Maddie's hand, though whether for her comfort or his own they didn't know.

Still, neither of them said anything, even when their grief reached its height and tears began to flow, the firm grip of the other's hand keeping them grounded. Even as their quiet sobs rang out, no words were said. No words needed to be said. It had been afternoon when the funeral was over, but now the sky was tinged with orange as the sun brushed the tops of the trees as they released each other's hands, simply accepting the quiet company. It wasn't until night had truly fallen that they left the gravesite.

* * *

They moved on auto-pilot, returning to their apartment and going to sleep that night. They woke at the same time they did every morning, once the sunlight streamed through their curtains and into their eyes, but it was only as they stepped out and met only one other set of eyes that they remembered where their third roommate was.

A silent conversation streamed between the two, and they moved into the kitchen, Jack pouring himself a bowl of cereal and milk as Maddie fixed coffee. He sat for a moment, poking the wet corn flakes and glancing up at Maddie before he let out a breath and resolved himself. Just as she sat down next to him, cradling the steaming mug in her hands, he spoke up.

"Maddie, do you think we should stop ghost hunting?"

She blinked at the abrupt statement, taking a moment to process what he'd said before she looked at him sharply. Jack just stared straight ahead, at a framed picture hanging innocently on the wall from just a few weeks before.

"Why do you ask, Jack?" She asked, voice soft. His eyes still didn't move as he responded, "Because the thing we loved doing has just killed our best friend, Mads, and I need to know this." Finally his eyes moved to meet hers, eyes shining not with doubt but with conviction. "I need to know, Maddie, so please. Just answer me."

Maddie thought, running the question and her own thoughts and beliefs over and over in her mind. At the forefront were expectations, what people thought they would and should do following all of this. But she knew that wasn't what he was asking about, and she knew precisely how to answer.

With a deep inhale, she said to him, "No."

Jack barely responded, prompting her onwards with his silence and a single look. She pursed her lips and kept going. "I don't think we should stop, Jack. The research, the ghosts, the everything... Vlad wouldn't want us to stop doing what we love just because he died, so I don't think we should either."

A beat of silence, then Jack broke out into a loving and happy smile. "Thank you, Maddie." Then his grin broadened, becoming more like the familiar grin that would often adorn Jack Fenton's face. "I agree with you. Vladdie wouldn't have wanted us to mope around for the rest of our lives! Let's continue with our work, both for him and for us!"

Maddie smiled back at him, turning to face forwards and taking a sip of her coffee. Once more they fell into a companionable silence, though they both knew there was one more thing to be done.

* * *

Though the subject hadn't come up at all, Maddie and Jack unanimously decided to visit Vlad's grave once more. Neither of them said a thing as they left their three-bedroom apartment and strolled out onto the street, the few people out and about steering clear of the duo. They walked into the graveyard, hearts beating in both anticipation and a strange foreboding.

Surprise wouldn't begin to cover it when they saw the stranger in front of Vlad's grave, the gray-white labcoat flaring oddly around their legs and the collar popped oddly. Black hair, styled in front and draping over the back of their head with a light gray stripe down the center seemed mysteriously familiar, but what really startled them was once it was clear that this stranger was not just unfamiliar, but _floating_ an inch above the ground, as though there was an invisible platform beneath their feet.

Maddie and Jack shared a wary look, cautiously circling to approach from the side rather than from behind. Jack was warily fingering the prototype ecto-knuckles he had in his pocket when the stranger seemed to snap out of whatever it was that kept their eyes glued to the headstone, turning their head towards them, and in sync three pairs of storm blue, amaranthine, and dull red eyes widened, the stranger landing lightly on the ground.

Their skin was tinged blue, eyes a different shade but set into such a familiar shape it was all they could do to not simply gape at them. It felt like mere seconds that they stared, and yet at the same time it felt drawn for hours as the two parties struggled to respond to what was in front of them.

The stranger spoke first, with a familiar voice and a barely noticeable echoing tone, "Maddie? Jack?"

 _It can't actually be._

"...Vlad...?" Maddie asked, voice rife with disbelief and shock, "Is- is that you?"

The blue-skinned ghost nodded once sharply, his eyes never leaving theirs.

Maddie opened her mouth again, but Jack cut her off, barking out, "How do we know you're really our friend and not some specter that borrowed his face? Prove it to us."

The Vlad-Lookalike ghost focused his gaze on Jack in slight surprise before understanding and faint exasperation fell over his face and he looked between them.

"I certainly don't know what you expect me to tell you two, but I'm hoping you don't expect me to completely retell that story of Jack and I in the fifth grade chemistry class." They said dryly.

Almost immediately Jack's face split into a wide smile, though he didn't move from his place beside Maddie. "Yep, that's Vladdie."

"But... how is this possible? For you to be here you'd have to be..." Maddie forced her mind away from the thought, instead saying, "Why did you come back?"

Vlad opened his mouth, tiny fangs sparkling as he prepared to respond before he seemed to think otherwise, shutting his mouth with a contemplative expression. Then he said, "As much as I'd love to explain _everything_ I know to both of you in this lovely place," Vlad gave a pointed look to the various gravestones that surrounded them before continuing, "I was hoping that you might be able to help on that front as well. What do you say we return to the apartment and speak there?"

* * *

The reunited trio returned to the apartment, Vlad invisibly trailing behind them so as to not startle any passersby that happened to be out. Maddie automatically moved into the kitchen, pouring three mugs of coffee before she realized what she was doing. Before she could take the third mug and dump it however, Vlad floated over and swiped one mug for himself, taking a drink as Jack and Maddie looked on in fascination.

Eventually the three sat down in the living room, the two ghost hunters eagerly listening as their dead friend explained how he'd woken up in a hospital room utterly confused before he'd seen himself. Vlad uncomfortably described his panic upon learning of his new dead state, how he was startled by the sudden entrance of a nurse and how he turned invisible as a result. He told them that he'd followed her out and upon hearing something about the two of them and the funeral, he had immediately left for the graveyard.

"I arrived sometime late last night, most likely not too long after you'd left. I... can't seem to remember much afterwards. It's all just, blank."

"So," Maddie reiterated, "all we know is that a few days following your... death, you formed in the hospital room as a ghost and decided to seek us out? And that none of us have much of an ideas as to why you formed."

Vlad tilted his head in acquiesce, looking irked at the lack of information they seemed to have. "That is the general gist of it, yes."

Jack, who had been holding himself back the entire conversation, finally burst out, "But in a way this is great, Vladdie! We can learn more about ghosts, you're still around, _and_ we can help you figure out why!"

"...Jack, isn't it a _bad_ thing that I stuck around for, I don't know, unfinished business or some similar reason?" Vlad said dryly, staring at his old friend with skepticism.

"Not at all! Knowing you Vlad, you never left anything half-done, so that can't be it. But that's why we're going to figure it out and help you move on if we can, the three of us, together!" And with that, Jack stood and swung out his arms, pulling Maddie and Vlad together in a hug, forcing Vlad to turn his legs intangible lest he bang them on the coffee table. Large arms still slung over their shoulders, Jack pushed them all into the kitchen, an endless stream of chatter and various harmless experiments they could run with ectoplasm and their new ghostly friend, laughing all the while.

The two melted into the familiar gesture, Maddie smiling and adding her own ideas to Jack's, occasionally cutting in to veto some of his stranger ideas. Vlad just smiled; he didn't tell them about how he'd felt when he heard about them from the doctors, or about the inkling of an idea he had now about his reasons for sticking around.

It hardly mattered, right?

* * *

 _Vlad carefully walked after the nurse, wary of touching anything and hoping this strange ability would last him. He was still shaky from his shock at his ridiculous appearance, but sitting around in shock was hardly befitting of himself, so he resolved to find someone who could provide answers._

 _He flickered back into visibility a few times, but he was thankful he remained invisible so long as there was a chance of him being spotted by other people. Being visible hardly mattered when no one was around to see him being visible, after all._

 _He started aimlessly wandering, losing track of the nurse along the way. Eventually he stumbled into the front halls, where receptionists, doctors, and nurses bustled in and out to various hospital rooms. He carefully walked around them, weary of accidentally breaking his cover, when a conversation caught his attention._

 _"...Yeah, can you believe it? The guy seemed so strong, it's still hard to believe he just died a good few weeks ago."_

 _"Tragic, isn't it? The funeral's today, I think. His friends are probably devastated."_

 _Vlad's eyes widened at this news; it didn't take a genius to guess they were talking about him, but to know he had actually died a few days ago? It made sense, but there was something intrinsically unnerving about hearing news of your own funeral. His momentary distraction caused him to almost miss their next words;_

 _"Yeah, I'll bet. What were their names, again? Madeline and Jack?"_

 _Something inside Vlad seemed to thrum inside his chest at those words, though he couldn't fathom why._

 _"Pff, you mean those crackpots?" A student from the University cut in, snorting. "Yeah, I bet they'd be upset by this. The three never went anywhere without each other."_

 _"Hey, be nice." One of the doctors scolded." "But yeah, those two. They came in almost every day, demanding to know how their friend, Vlad right? They kept trying to get in and see how he was doing."_

 _"They'll probably be at the funeral or something, I didn't catch what time it was going to be at."_

 _"How do you think they're dealing?"_

 _Vlad tuned them out in favor of maintaining his invisible state and understanding the strange instinct and feeling in his heart (chest? Did ghosts even have hearts or something as a substitute for one?)._

 _Making up his mind, Vlad dashed for an empty hospital room; he had no idea whether he was really a ghost or what power that would grant him, but he figured he must be able to fly or something, right?_

 _Time for a power crash course, then straight to the cemetery._

 _Though he wasn't sure why he felt a pull there, and he felt like a bit of an idiot for possibly going to his own funeral if it was early enough, but his gut never lead him wrong before._

 _Maddie and Jack would help him, their friend, even as a ghost. He was sure of it._

* * *

 **A/N: Man, writing this has taught me three things: first of all, AU's are great but wow planning is difficult, which while expected was more difficult than I expected: second, I have a really, _really_ hard time writing grief and thirdly; Dialogue is the thing I did not realize I could not write. I mean, I'm getting better at both of those things, but I struggled a lot with them. You would not _believe_ how many times I had to rework that part with the apartment, right after the funeral scene. I had lots of trouble figuring out how to keep their grief in character as possible, as well as where I'd have the scene with Jack questioning Maddie and where it would work best, then I kept moving it around because I couldn't figure out how to work Vlad back into their lives either. **

**Then everything after that was about _1000 times worse in writing_ until the hospital flashback/memory thing. That part just kept fighting me the whole time, and it was _so fricking hard_ to try and keep them as in character as possible. I think I've managed somewhat well on that front, hopefully.**

 **To those of you thinking this might be out of character for Vlad, I'm of the opinion that he got along _famously_** **with Jack, with or without Maddie, before his accident in canon. At this point, he hasn't even been conscious long enough in the hospital to realize what's happened to him before he died, there were zero chances for the two of them to have even seen his hospital room, and at this point in life Vlad still cares about both Maddie _and_ Jack. He didn't have that time to feel abandoned in the hospital, he wasn't even conscious at any time before his death and after he got a face-full of ectoplasm. **

**Don't get me wrong about my opinions of Vlad's character either; In canon he's a despicable manipulative old man with an unhealthy obsession with a fourteen to fifteen year old and a married woman. Sure, he might have some sort of potential in there (I'm also of the assumption that what Future!Vlad said was mostly the truth), but we can't forget that he's an _emotionally and just generally manipulative jackass that tried to kill several people and was perfectly content in trying and failing to clone a child and felt virtually no mercy when said clones melted before his eyes, (And please, excuse my language)._**

 **But hey, that's what AU'S are for, isn't it?**

 **Thanks to you all, for taking time to read this, and I'm terribly sorry if the characters are OOC in any way. I tried my best, but feedback would be lovely.**

 **Edit: I've gone back and just shuffled a few things. :P Doing it on mobile wasn't as bad as it usually was this time around, which was nice.**


	2. Aftermath

**A/N: It is one am. I am tired. It took me two days to write the last part of this fic.**

 **I enjoyed it, oddly enough. I suppose posting in the middle of the night isn't the greatest of ideas but here I am anyway. I hope you guys like it well enough, I spent a long time figuring out how I was supposed to go at this.**

 **I took great inspiration from, oddly enough, the summary text right before the actual oneshot, which I usually think of before I write the fic, as well as Iom Tagoj by Vox (TheDiiva) which by the way is a fic you totally need in your life right now. I'd have next to no idea how to write this without it.**

 **I'd also like to take the note that I have no idea how college life actually works, nor do I know how perform any of the legally dubious acts they are committing in the inbetween parts of the fic that are only ever implied.**

 **Disclaim: Consider this fic officially disclaimed. Done.**

* * *

 _The living never make it through the loss of a life unscarred and unchanged; who ever said those dead could?_  
 _You didn't lose anything you never do you lucky bastards,_  
 _but the world's just turned upside down he's lost all of himself and all you can do_  
 _is help pick up the pieces of a man that you love_

* * *

One week after the trio had met up at the graveyard the ghost of Vlad Masters stalked out of his room and into the tiny apartment kitchen where Jack and Maddie sat, looking over old papers with mugs of coffee in hand, and all but demanded,

"So. What do we do now?"

Maddie blinked and looked up from her papers at his voice, frowning. "What are you talking about, Vlad? Jack and I don't have classes for another week at least... we've managed to deal with any issues concerning your will - I still can't believe you left us everything by the way, but it does make things easier, and we already finished tidying up the lab and cleaning up the proto-portal remains too." She shook her head and set the sheets down, leaning her chin on one hand with an eyebrow raised. "Whats left to deal with?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, stalking over and grabbing a piece of bread he didn't necessarily need to eat. "Not that. I was talking about me. What am **_I_ ** supposed to do now?" He sighed, moving over to the third chair at the table and taking a seat. Jack quickly swept some of his own papers aside as Vlad mimicked Maddie's pose, absently taking a bite as he continued, "As much as I do enjoy spending time with you both, living full-time in whatever house or apartment you eventually get without any way to - and ignoring the irony of my terminology - make a living and do something other than haunting the halls doesn't exactly sound appealing to me."

Maddie's eyes narrowed, a hand moving to her chin. "So... You basically want to continue living your life even though you're dead?" She said aloud, thinking to herself more than talking to them.

"Well why didn't you say so!" Jack cut in, breaking out into a grin. "That'll be easy. We can totally figure something out for you Vladdie!"

Vlad groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "Like what, Jack? In case you've managed to forget, I'm dead. Legally **and** literally."

"Not to the rest of the world you aren't." Maddie said muttered, a matching smile growing on her face as she pumped her fist, "That's it! I knew all those dumb spy movies and crime shows would come in handy!"

Vlad blinked at them. "Huh?"

Maddie rolled her eyes, "Look. In all those dumb things, what do the guys in movies do when they want to get someone off their trail really badly?"

"I don't know, hire someone?" Vlad furrowed his brow, looking between the two almost frantically.

"No no no, you idiot. They fake their deaths and go on with their lives!" She leaned forward, laying one hand on the table. "Look, it's not exactly the best of news, but it's the fact of the matter that beyond our ridiculous antics at the University, no one else around here ever really notices any of us, let alone people outside of the city! All we have to do is wait for all this fuss to die down, and bam Vlad's free to start his life over! School, a job, the whole works!" Maddie stood up triumphantly, one hand on her hip as the other moved to her chin. "Sure we'll have to move, then there's the matter of paperwork and disguises, but we've got two live scientists and a ghost scientist, what could go wrong?"

"Exactly!" Jack jumped up eagerly. "You're still mostly tangible, so regular makeup would probably work fine. And if it doesn't, we can always whip something up!" Vlad dropped his shoulders and shook his head, planting his hands on the table as he stood up.

"You're both insane."

Maddie put her hands on her hips and grinned at him. "What kind of advice were you looking for, 'go wander the world on your own'?"

"Well not quite, but proposing I essentially come back to life in the public eye is a pretty crazy idea." Vlad replied.

"I see no difference in this than what we do on a regular basis then." She stated, scooping her papers up and grabbing her mug. She walked across the kitchen, dumping the papers into a basket with her name on it. "Now c'mon. We've got research to do. Jack," Maddie peeled a finger off the handle of her mug to point, "I want you to look up on different towns, good jobs around the city, schools we can trick. Aim for some place close to Madison for now, but not too close. Vlad," her hand swung around to him and Vlad started as she spoke, "You're gonna figure out what it is you want to do and look into ways you can take your name out of the death records. You're a ghost, so haunt the hell out of those places. You'd probably get away with changing the name and keeping your own, really. Just look into the most legal way for us to break the law, I guess. Hopefully we won't get caught." She shrugged.

"What about you, Mads?" Jack asked. Maddie grinned at them, dumping her mug in the sink before heading for the door, grabbing her keys off the shelf and twirling them around her finger.

"You boys think I'm gonna let you go wandering in the makeup department? I'll be back later, try and get something useful done while I'm gone."

And with that she stepped out, the door sliding shut behind her with a click. Vlad gaped at the door, Jack moving to stand beside him in silence before he spoke up.

"...Man, I love that woman."

"Me too, Jack. Me too."

* * *

Though things seemed to start of well, few months in, Vlad started acting strange. Or at least, Jack and Maddie really started noticing he was acting strange. Given how busy all of them had been, between school and research and their (mostly) legal activities trying to 'get their friend back on his feet' (Vlad still scoffed whenever he heard either of them put it this way), it wasn't so much that they _hadn't_ noticed, it was that they didn't have the time to consciously realize anything sooner. But by the time they realized how often Vlad had been doing things like holeing himself in his room, neither of them were entirely sure how to bring it up.

In the end, they decided to simply keep being there and showing they were behind him all the way. He would get over whatever was bugging him and either come to them or go back to normal, they knew he would.

* * *

Maddie rolled out of bed with a yawn, stretching her neck and blinking to wake herself up as she stepped out of the small room and into the tiny hallway. She shook her head as she shuffled into the kitchen, noting with surprise that Vlad was already sitting down at the table, a half-eaten bowl of leftover oatmeal in front of him.

"Oh, good morning Vlad." Maddie said, moving towards the coffee maker. Vlad barely reacted to her greeting beyond a blink and a glance before going back to his silence and Maddie smiled sadly at him, pulling the pot from the machine. Checking inside she grumbled upon realizing she'd have to make a new pot, pulling out the instant from the cupboard instead. She flicked the kettle on, tapping the counter with one hand and grabbing a mug with the other as the water rapidly boiled. Soon it was the quiet clank of the spoon on the edge of the mug that filled the room as she stirred, Vlad still staring at his breakfast with a troubled expression.

Maddie looked at her friend concernedly, biting her lip for a moment before giving a quiet sigh through her nose. She straightened, about to ask him what was on his mind when Jack burst from his room, eagerly waving several objects around in one hand.

"Mads, Vlad! You wouldn't believe what I just figured out!" He said, all but skidding to a stop in front of the table and dropping his cargo. As the table jostled Vlad instinctively grabbed the oatmeal from the wooden surface, saving it from a nasty crash to the floor and eliciting a chuckle from Maddie as he held it up and away from its previous spot. Jack paid no attention, pushing aside a few ectoplasm samples and gadgets to search for a certain paper in the pile he'd dumped from his hand. As the energetic man searched, Vlad seemed to realize what he was doing and he lowered his arms, frowning again at the oatmeal in his hands for a few moments before sighing, shoulders slumping as he dumped it back onto the table carelessly, away from the edge and newfound mess.

"Aha! Here it is." Triumphant, Jack shuffled his papers back into the right order, "Listen, I think I finally figured out the right composition of non-toxic chemicals to make ectoplasm mimic the general colour of human skin. If we use this with that specialized concealer Maddie made that we couldn't get to mix to the right colour, it should work fine! Nobody would know the difference unless they spent a lot of time with him, and by that time I bet you'll have that weird disguise thing under control." Grabbing the belt-like gadget and what seemed to be a face cream container, he waved them around. "I was thinking of something a bit like a compressor too, just in case. Your temperature isn't too far off from an average humans but if your core started going on the fritz or something, I figured we'd configure it to help prevent things like that! It'd be a challenge but I've got a good start on it here..."

The whole time Jack spoke Maddie kept one eye on Vlad, watching in concern as his expression seemed to get darker and more troubled with each word that came out of Jack's mouth, lips thinning as he struggled to focus on something, anything but the man in front of him speaking, but he couldn't. Though she was watching him, both Maddie and Jack couldn't keep from jumping when Vlad suddenly stood up, hands slamming against the table and chair teetering from the harsh shove.

"...Vlad?" Maddie called quietly, noting the slight tremble in his arms as she moved from the counter to stand beside Jack, in front of Vlad. He didn't respond at first, instead staring harshly at the table, trying to breathe deeply and taking in oxygen he didn't really need. It drove in the point he'd frantically been trying to avoid and he grit his teeth, taking in another shaky bracing breath and ignoring the voice in the back of his head taunting him about the irony of it all.

"How... are both of you doing this?" He forced out, his voice somehow frantic and breathless and so very tired all at once. He breathed slowly, forcibly, like he was trying to calm himself down, tell the heart he no longer had that it could stop making his limbs shake and heartbeat hammer in the back of his throat. Core? He knew it was his core. He didn't want to think about it.

"Doing what?" Jack asked, clueless as ever. Vlad clenched his fists, biting so hard his teeth somehow hurt in his jaw and shutting his eyes as though it would help assuage the burning whirring thoughts in his mind and tell his heart _(core)_ that _nothing was there nothing is wrong you can stop now it's all ok_. It didn't. Finally, he snapped.

"It's... just... _This!_ _**ALL**_ OF THIS!" He desperately snarled at them, sweeping his arm out and vaguely gesturing to himself as his hand curled back into a fist. His breaths shook as he forced his shoulders down and whipped his head up at them, bending down over the hand still on the table as though it was all that held him up. "How... How the hell are you doing this?! **Any of this!?** You, you just... _YOU ACT LIKE NONE OF THIS EVEN MATTERS!_ Its like, _its like..._ **_ITS LIKE I'M NOT EVEN DEAD TO YOU!_** "

Jack and Maddie stood in silence as Vlad screamed at them, steaming tears rolling down his face as he panted.

" _God..._ I just... I can't... I don't _understand_..." Vlad breathed out, breath hitching and eyes slowly drifting back to the table below him. "How... good god how do you even _do_ any of this? It's like I'm not even dead to you guys and I just don't understand... How you can do this when I can barely wrap my head around it?" His shoulders slumped with the rest of his body and he leaned down against the table, sliding back into the chair he'd leapt out of earlier. He could still feel his core thrumming energetically, and if he just shut his eyes as tight as he could he felt like he could pretend that it was his heart beating, that the tears rolling from his eyes weren't evaporating just by rolling down his face, that he wasn't slowly torching everything because he was something less than human. Less than alive.

"I just... god I, _I don't want to be dead..._ I want to be alive... I want to be **human**... but I'm not. I'm not anymore and I just, I don't know how to _deal_ with this... god..."

He hunched in on himself, arms laying on his lap. He couldn't stop shaking, the world wouldn't stop moving, nothing was _OK_ and he didn't know how to deal with it hell he didn't even know what was going on anymore-

His core jumped just like his heart would have when two bodies sat themselves in chairs right next to him on either side, leaning comfortingly against him. Two arms entwined across his shoulders and behind his back, giving comfort where there once was none. They sat together in silence, for what could have been minutes or hours. They didn't much care for how long it was.

"Oh Vlad..." Maddie finally said, and Vlad could feel the slight rumble of her body as she spoke. It made the tension and energy drain right out of his own body and he slumped against them both as she went on comfortingly, "If you're comparing yourself to how we took it so well after the first few weeks, I think you need to remember something very important here."

"Oh?" He mumbled, feeling too drained to put more energy or effort into speaking. Beside him, Jack nodded as Maddie continued, leaning against him.

"You were dead, Vlad... you were dead for weeks, nearly a month before we saw you again." She heaved a long deep breath, swallowing. "It still hurts us too, whenever we think about it. The fact that one of us, the fact that you're a ghost now." Her hand squeezed his other shoulder as she spoke, a gesture to comfort herself as well as Vlad. "But we've had almost a month more than you to get used to it, and I bet it can't even compare to actually being dead yourself, huh?"

Her weak joking tone snapped him to attention and Vlad couldn't help but give a weak chuckle. "I guess not."

"And you know what, Vlad?" Jack spoke up now, "You might be a ghost now, but you've got a golden opportunity in front of you." Though his voice was quiet it was no less eager-sounding as he swept his arm out in front of them. "You have the chance to keep living your life, human or not! And the definition of being a ghost might be for you to be dead, but that doesn't mean that you've got to act like it!" Jack tightened his grip around Vlad, dragging his two friends closer to him and grinning at the two. "None of us are used to any of this yet, so lets get used to it right now! Griping isn't going to change it, so we might as well do something useful while we're at it, right?"

Vlad spluttered, giving a short and incredulous laugh at the exuberance of his best friend.

"I sure hope that 'something useful' doesn't include inventions that could potentially blow up on the kitchen table like that wonderfully whirring miracle sitting there right now." Maddie said dryly, indicating the belt Jack had placed on the table before, which had begun to smoke and sputter.

"AH!" Jack frantically leapt up, scooping up the machine only to end up juggling it between his hands as sparks began to fly from the cracks. Vlad cracked a grin and Maddie laughed, giving Vlad one last slap on the back as she moved to help Jack with his wayward invention.

So he didn't want to think about how he was a dead ghost just yet. That was alright. He wouldn't. They were right; he had time now, a chance to pick up the shambles and do something new.

 _(He'd tell them about the completed death certificate and funeral paper forgeries in his room later.)_

* * *

 **There is something dissatisfying about the ending. but for the life of me I can't figure it out. It's probably because I'm tired. But I doubt I'll fix it anyway hahaha (Vlad's short breakdown also feels unsatisfactory to me but I have no experience concerning things like this nor do I have any idea how to expand it sooooo)**

 **So take this and enjoy. I really need to work on breaking this "Midnight posting" habit of mine...**


	3. Bonus

**A/N: Y'know what, I almost completely forgot about this. It's a little bonus I wrote up a little bit before I finished Aftermath and posted on tumblr, and then I just. forgot about putting it here completely. That's my bad. Anyway, better late than never. Have this short old little thing that I wrote like, almost a year ago or something.**

* * *

"So, what now?"

"Well I believe an important first step would be for you to, as you say, 'go ghost' before we begin."

Danny scowled at the older ghost's reply, pointedly avoiding eye contact. "…and how do I do that?"

"In case you've forgotten, Danny, I am in fact a full ghost and have been so for many years. It isn't as if I have any experience changing from alive to dead." Vlad replied dryly, frowning in thought. Then he shrugged. "In any case, nothing but experimentation will get you results, so try what you will. Its hardly as though you can mess this up when your ghost form is as new and unstable as it is, and I've no better idea on how you transform as you do."

Danny sighed, flopping into a nearby chair and staring at his feet. Vlad had offered to show him how to control his powers, (Well, as much as a newborn ghost could), but transforming was something he'd never really thought about. He bit his tongue, trying to focus. He already transformed accidentally all the time, surely doing it on purpose couldn't be that difficult...

"Hey, Danny? Mr. Masters? Are you guys down there?"

Footsteps echoed down the stairwell and soon two curious heads poked out. "Oh, there you are." Sam said, Tucker following her as she stepped into the lab. "What're you doing?"

"Well as of right now we aren't exactly doing much." Vlad said, watching as Danny stood up and joined his friends. "The little badger hasn't had any luck with transforming, and we can't exactly begin until he does."

"Well he already does it by accident all the time, how hard can it be?" Tucker grinned, giving the halfa a friendly grin and a shoulder nudge. "Maybe you just need a bit of the Tucker Charisma; you know, get into the right mindset?"

Sam smacked him lightly upside the head. "Joking aside, he might be on to something. What were we doing whenever you transformed?"

Vlad listened in with half an ear as the trio listed what they'd been doing whenever Danny transformed, running through possible ways to trigger his powers when he heard one of their activities. He grinned as an idea sprouted in his mind, turning to the group of friends who were engrossed with their conversation.

 _Perfect._

"So what do we have so far? Video games, video games, movies and more video games?" Danny huffed. "I'm not getting anything."

Sam perked, eyes darting to the space behind Danny and Tucker for a moment. "Well you never know. Maybe the answer'll just come out of nowhere."

"Yeah? Like what?"

 ** _"RAAAAHH!"_**

 ** _"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_**

 _"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"_

The shout that echoed in the boy's ears was only overshadowed by their own twin screams and the laughter from the observing goth, amusement and smug satisfaction all over Vlad's face. Tucker leaned his hands on his knees, gasping for breath, and Danny shot into the air with a flash of light, sticking to the ceiling in ghost form with a loud and painful sounding clang.

"See...I...told you it would come to you!" Sam gasped out between laughs,all but collapsing onto the lab floor.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Danny grumbled, crossing his arms from his place above them.

"Well at least you've managed to transform." Vlad was far more composed than Sam was, though his amusement was all over his face and in his voice. "Now, shall we begin with the training I promised?"

There was a pause. "Uh, yeah well, that's a great idea, but I think we've got a bit of a problem first." The sheepish voice drifted down. Vlad blinked and frowned up at him in confusion as Tucker tried to stifle his laughter, realizing why his best friend hadn't come down yet.

"What is it?"

"Well, uh, I think I'm stuck."


End file.
